3.3.08

The last time I participated in a science fair, my project was withheld by the teacher. See, she didn't actually read my proposal to subject white mice to small amounts of microwave radiation and study the effects -- but she gave it the okay for me to proceed. I was one of the top students in that class, and I suspect she figured whatever I'd do would be fine. She didn't realize that I wanted to help demonstrate how the massive power lines running over a nearby park might be slowly cooking the kids. Or that I was going to show this by putting a pair of white mice in the microwave oven for one second, on low, every two days (another pair got one second every four days, and one pair was "control" with no exposure).

When I brought the project in, complete with photographic records of what happened to the mice after two weeks, the teacher was horrified. This was a Catholic school, mind you, and I had less than three weeks left of eighth grade. Though a top student, I was already an outcast for suggesting that I didn't want to or need to go through with confirmation (I did, only to renounce Christianity entirely within a few years). My science project was doomed to hide in the closet until after the science fair, when I would be graded separately, with a parent present. My mom came in, I aced science that year, and I ultimately lost a little respect for some of my teachers. (Yes, I'm talking about you, Mrs. Chic.)